DEAR WINES.

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 21, 24 July 1918, Page 7

DEAR WINES.

The pripes which, are now being charged in many licensed houses for brandy and wines are excessive, and apparently out of. all proportion to the shortage- of the supply. Port, vermouth, brandy, and champagne are all dearer than they ought to be. In the case of the cheaper light wines prices are. reasonable in view of the greatly increased cost to the retailer. Up to the autumn of 1914" good light claret could be bought in Bordeaux at £3 10s a hogshead. To-day the cheapest French wine is about £16 10s a hogshead, and for Portuguese red wine, which is of a; lower class than French, £13 is quoted. Dealers can now withdraw from bond tho quantities they took out in 1916, but the 1916 quantity is not enough to meet the 1918 demand, and restaurant and. hotel proprietors have to compete against oyie another at public auctions and sales by private treaty, to add to their rations. This fight for supplies forces up the price to the wine merchant and the private consumer, and sound claret, sufficiently matured for immediate consumption, cannot be sold at less thaii 3s 6d a bottle. Owing to tho high price of vermouth there is a good deal of fabrication in the foretgK quarters of London. The demand is increased by the "cocktail" habit of the American troops.